lube the luff track and bolt rope, get a thinner diameter halyard, don't jam the battens in too hard, put boat head to wind, pull halyard in-line straight behind the sheave at the bottom of the mast... don't pull from an angle.... have the sail flaked out nicely so the bolt just goes straight up, not unrolling the sail as you pull... all these combine to make it real easy to do it singlehanded.... when halyard ring is 6-8 inches below the hook, close eyes, pull smoothly and evently to the top, you feel it at the top, then ease it back and listen for the beautiful "clink" of the ring catching on the hook......

I have inquired previously regarding reefing a H18 rig because I'm using a complete H18 sail rig on the trimaran I'm building and will need reefing capability. Use of pigtails, extra halyard hooks, and 2:1 halyards have been discussed and I'm inclined to use the 2:1 halyard approach. I have looked at different means of dead ending the halyard at the mast head with the H18 sheave setup but the H16 mast head looks to be more robust with a much larger sheave. My question should have been whether the H18 and H16 mast sections are the same allowing a H16 mast head to be exchanged for the H18 masthead on a non comptip mast. Suggestions on sail raising appreciated regardless. Thanks,JT

I have modified my 18 in many ways (see post "Outboard on 18"), one of them was a change in masthead to allow raising and lowering the sail on the water.I sawed the existing little wheel bit off and fixed, on the now totally flat top, a system that looks a lot like a HC16 masthead. I did this using 2 thick walled L-shaped aluminium pieces and 2 sheaves fixed between the upstanding parts of the L-shape. Cheap and works very well !Hope this helpsMichel

I've owned a set of Farrier F25A plans for a very long time, way too long. Even thought about buying the short-lived F25G kit by Colorado Composite, picked up the F82A upgrade plans (for the F25). Lately I've been watching Ian's progress on his F22 kit production. I doubt I'll ever get to build a tri from scratch. Business to run and college tuition to pay. Now I'm thinking along the lines of a tri with a built-up main hull and H18 hulls as akas. I'd still be able to put the Hobie back together if need be.

The wife says if I'm going to build, then why not something for overnighting and weekends? The Farrier is too costly for me so the next best and fastest boat is a 28' Egret Sharpie with a cat ketch rig. Much cheaper to build and she'll handle 12" of water under sail.

I have modified my 18 in many ways (see post "Outboard on 18"), one of them was a change in masthead to allow raising and lowering the sail on the water.I sawed the existing little wheel bit off and fixed, on the now totally flat top, a system that looks a lot like a HC16 masthead. I did this using 2 thick walled L-shaped aluminium pieces and 2 sheaves fixed between the upstanding parts of the L-shape. Cheap and works very well !Hope this helpsMichel

Ok, I am way out of my league to post on this string, but of course I will ask my dumb question anyway. It seems that the 18 sail rig doesnt give the power for such a large, heavy boat, much less the need to reef the main??

Too long. It has been an on and off project. I've found out that the H16 mast head will not properly fit the H18 mast section so it looks as if I'll end up modifying the H18 mast head. Thanks for the comments on the build.JT

OK , I'm setting my boat up about end of April, will take a picture of my modified masthead (with the two sheaves construction for lowering and raising the main on the water)Regarding : Post subject: Re: H18 reefing Reply with quotethat the 18 sail rig doesn't give the power for such a large, heavy boatI can answer this question from my perspective : I modified my 18 to make a long trek, the boat was heavy with all that stuff (including a 2,5 HP Mercury outboard) and the power of the sailplan was more than enough. (we too took steps to be able to reef on the water : a safety feature that is, to my mind, essential when carrying a lot of weight)Michel